Page 74 of Marked for the Pack

We stayed at the cabin for one more day while we all rested up, ate, and regained our strength. I hadn’t known what to expect with my first heat, but the guys had done what they’d promised to… gotten me through it unscathed, with my sanity intact.

I’d heard horror stories of female wolf shifters trapped alone due to an avalanche or other circumstances going insane without a mate to help them through the heat. After all, wolf shifters weren’t like real wolves… we had magic in our veins, and that magic sometimes came with consequences.

But now what? I’d safely survived my first heat, Gage and Heath were being absolute gentleman, but I felt uncertain about how things would go now that it was over. And it seemed like they were unsure as well. The ray of sunshine of the whole ordeal was, as usual, Flint. He treated me exactly as he had before the heat. Nothing had changed between the two of us.

Or had it?

Flint was courting me. I’d heard the other two talking about it. And though I found the concept a bit old-fashioned, I appreciated that he didn’t rush right into asking me to be his mate. Not that I didn’t already know my answer — Flint was perfect. He was everything I’d never allowed myself to hope for in a mate, and more.

I found my thoughts straying frequently to my mother, who had apparently mated with three men — one of whom was a witch or mage — and to the Snow Moon wolf who seemed to have her own harem of men. I’d always been taught wolves only had one mate, so even with their examples, it was taking me awhile to believe it was okay, if unusual, to have relationships with each Howling Echo alpha.

“Grandmother Moon guide me,” I whispered as I helped pack our meager belongings into the borrowed vehicle.

We all kept going in and out of the small cabin, but while I was outside alone, a phone started ringing. Glancing around, I didn’t see it anywhere, but I followed the sound. Ripping open the van’s passenger door, I stuck my head inside and discovered the phone must be in here. When I opened the glove compartment, the ringing phone fell to the floor and went silent.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I growled, picking it up.

It felt strange to hold a phone in my hands. The Ironwood pack had never allowed low-ranking packmates to own them.

“What is it?” Gage asked.

I turned around with heat flooding my cheeks as though I’d been caught red-handed. I didn’t think Gage cared, but he’d also never given me a phone, either…

Holding the phone up, I gave a weak smile. “It was ringing, but it stopped just now.”When I dropped it…

“No one should be calling that phone,” Gage murmured, plucking it from my hand.

I held my breath, still not entirely sure I wasn’t in trouble. With the heat over, I didn’t exactly know where I stood with Gage, but he was the pack alpha, so his word was law. I didn’t want to do anything to piss him off and get me kicked out of the pack. Flint and Heath said they would follow me, but destroying their pack — our pack — was the last thing I wanted.

Gage’s brows drew down as he scanned the phone. “Our informant says she has new information that our employers will want to hear. Says she’ll meet us at the same spot tonight.”

Heath had come outside, and he crowded in behind Gage to read the message for himself. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I,” Gage said. “I’m going to call her.”

He held the phone up, and I heard it dialing on speakerphone. It rang and rang, but no one answered.

“She just called,” I protested.

“Well, she’s not answering now,” Gage said.

“Maybe she can’t,” Heath suggested. “Others could be around her now. She doesn’t want to get caught.”

“Finish packing up,” Gage ordered. “Then we’ll see if we can make it there early.”

Heath nodded. “We’ll scope it out. Make sure it’s not a trap.”

Their caution reassured me, and before long, the four of us were packed into the vehicle once more. I blushed when I remembered how Flint had made me come multiple times on the backseat.

Heath groaned. “Not the time, little wolf.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

I’d thought my scent would be less distracting once my heat ended, but it seemed I was wrong. They could all easily smell my arousal in the closed-in space. Something I decided to keep in mind.

Flint grinned and gave me a big smooch. “They’re professionals. They can handle some blue balls on the way to a mission.”

“I’d rather not, though,” Gage growled.

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